is an
Independent Local Radio station for
Greater London . It replaced
102.2 Jazz FM on the
7th Of June 2005 at 10am, with the help of
R&B singer
Lemar and the then breakfast show host
Jon Scragg . The first track played, keeping with the name of the newly launched radio station was
Sade Adu's Smooth Operator .
102.2 Smooth FM is owned by the radio division of the
Guardian Media Group ,
GMG Radio .
102.2 Smooth FM also broadcasts on
DAB across London, Central Scotland, the North East of England, South Wales and the Severn Estuary, Yorkshire and the West Midlands, as well as on Freeview channel 88. 102.2 Smooth FM is also available as a free low bitrate or paid-for subscription high bitrate
Internet Stream . Although from the 1st of April 2006, due to new licensing regulations from the
PPL which required radio stations to pay higher royalties to broadcast Internet streams worldwide, only the paid-for subscription stream is available to listeners whose
IP Address does not originate in the
United Kingdom , whereas both streams are available to listeners whose IP address does.
See Also: 102.2 Jazz FM#Criticism and Rebranding
In 2005, the
Guardian Media Group made the decision to drop the jazz name from the Jazz FM brand and relaunch the station as Smooth FM. The London version of Jazz FM closed on the 27th of May 2005 to prepare for the launch of Smooth FM on the 7th of June.
Smooth FM generally plays
Middle Of The Road music,
Soul and
R&B during the day and, as part of its licence requirements, focuses on
Jazz music at night. Smooth FM also plays specialist
Jazz and
Soul shows during weekends, especially in the evening and also plays
Hed Kandi , with its blend of
House Music in the early hours of
Sunday morning.
Its presenters include:
- Four hours of Motown classics.
- ''' music.
- '''Legends of artists.
- A two hour programme which includes many forms of Jazz from classic to Latin as well as a mix of jazz from the younger players of the day.
- Three hours of Funk , Soul and Jazz music.
- A selection of mellow Jazz through the evening.
- Four hours of Soul music on in the early hours of Sunday morning.
- A two hour show featuring Chillout grooves and Jazz .
- Broadcast Saturdays at 9pm and presented by Mike Chadwick, the show specialises in music with a distinct cutting edge.
